Two small towns in rural Illinois recently lost their Walmart stores -- more than three decades after the retail giant came in and pushed out mom and pop shops. Now, the communities have lost convenience as well as major property and sales tax revenue. Some see it as an opportunity to revitalize main street, while others are not so optimistic.

A former University of Illinois administrator—who campus investigators say sexually harassed students—has been placed on paid administrative leave from his current job at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Champaign County is the site of several proposed solar panel installations, but only one of them would go up on a landfill site. That could happen, under a lease agreement approved by the Urbana City Council at their meeting Monday night.

The Farm Bill, which awaits action from President Trump, would legalize the production and sale of industrial hemp. A research program is underway at Southern Illinois University to get answers to questions farmers have about growing industrial hemp, which was legalized in Illinois under state law in August.

On Christmas Day at 1 PM, an army of volunteers will be serving a community dinner at Champaign's First Christian Church, and you’re invited. This will be the nin th year for the annual dinner, which involves some 200 volunteers and a ham dinner provided by local businesses and other donors.

On the 21st: Jim Angel has been watching our state’s weather and climate for more than twenty years as Illinois’ State Climatologist. During that time, the climate has changed - and it’s going to change at an even greater rate going forward. He is retiring after serving in his role for 21 years - and he joins us one more time to talk Illinois weather and take a look back at his career. Also, a University of Illinois has fired a tenured professor for just the second time since the 1960s. The reason? He had faked research data on a federal grant. Plus, there are so many kinds of holiday gifts, but there’s no substitute for a good book. We’ll bring in some Illinois librarians with their suggestions for every kind of reader.

Come January 14, Illinois will have a new pro-pot-legalization governor and a Democrat-held legislature, leading many to believe the state will legalize recreational cannabis. That’s exciting for some, concerning for others.

Documents obtained by Illinois Public Media through an open records request show an administrator at the University of Illinois School of Architecture resigned in August 2017—less than two weeks before campus investigators concluded he sexually harassed students in violation of campus sexual misconduct policies.